Italy bridge collapses, but only two hurt as drivers stay home due to coronavirus lockdown
- Almost no traffic on normally busy road as part of 260-metre structure fell into river below
- Incident highlights poor state of country’s road network, after collapse of bridge in Genoa in 2018 killed 43 people
A bridge on a normally busy provincial road in northern Italy collapsed on Wednesday but, with virtually no traffic due to the coronavirus lockdown, only two truck drivers suffered minor injuries, the fire brigade said.
A spokesman for the fire brigade said the 260-metre (853-foot) bridge on the SS330 road near the town of Aulla, roughly midway between Genoa and Florence, in the northern tip of Tuscany, collapsed at 10.25am local time.
Although casualties were limited in Wednesday’s incident, it highlights the poor state of repair of Italy’s road network, after the collapse of a motorway bridge in the port city of Genoa in 2018 that killed 43 people.
Helicopter views of the area of the latest accident showed sections of the bridge crossing the river Magra had collapsed to the level of the water, buckling a stretch of road behind it.
The lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus meant that heavy midweek traffic that might normally have been using the bridge was absent and only two vehicles were involved.
The two drivers were taken to hospital with minor injuries, a fire brigade spokesman said.